Chapter 1
Dolores's POV:
The man didn't reach for me.
He only looked at the hand clutching his coat and said my name, "Dolores Collins."
My fingers fell open. So he knew.
The hospital room was unnaturally still. The numbers on the monitor had frozen, and a leaf outside the window hung suspended in midair. The stranger and I were the only ones who could move.
"You want to take her place?"
I nodded.
"If you give her your life, she'll live," he said. "But on the third night, you'll be the one who dies."
I looked back at my sister, Allie Collins.
The new teddy bear Dad had bought her sat beside her pillow, and Mom's coat covered her feet. One sleeve dangled so close to me that it almost touched my chair.
Before bed, Mom had read her the same fairy tale three times. I listened nearby and tried to move my chair closer, but Mom said I was blocking the light and told me to sit farther away.
"Then give her my life," I said.
The man crouched in front of me and looked into my eyes.
"She's your sister, but you don't owe her your life."
But Mom couldn't lose Allie.
After the doctor came, she had held Allie and cried for a long time. She said she couldn't live without Allie.
I stood by the door holding their unfinished sandwiches, but no one asked me to come over.
"I want to do it." I held out my hand. "As long as Mom stops crying."
The man watched me for a long time.
He never touched me, but a thin silver-white line slowly appeared around my wrist, as if moonlight were trapped beneath my skin.
"I'll give you three days. At midnight on the third day, I'll come for you."
He said he would take me to a shore afterward. As long as I didn't cross the door there, I could still change my mind and take my life back.
But if I did, Allie wouldn't survive.
All I heard was that he would give me three more days.
That was just enough time to make it to Mom's birthday.
"What happens after I cross the door?"
"There is no coming back."
I nodded and pulled down my sleeve to cover the silver line.
The hallway clock suddenly chimed.
The leaf outside fluttered to the ground, and the monitor began beeping again.
When I looked toward the door, the man was gone. Only a thin layer of frost remained on the glass.
Mom stirred, and I hurried back into my chair.
"Dolores?"
I looked up at once, but all she said was, "Turn off the light. Allie needs to rest."
"Okay, Mom."
I stood on tiptoe to switch off the light, then curled up on the narrow chair.
My hoodie couldn't cover both legs.
I was freezing, but my head felt hot.
I should have been scared. Instead, when I touched the silver line around my wrist, I felt relieved.
Once Allie got better, Mom wouldn't have to spend every night at the hospital or cry in secret over test results.
If she knew I had helped, maybe she would kiss my forehead the way she kissed Allie's.
Just once would be enough.
